Piedmont has more creativity per square foot than any school I've ever known. I've been sharing some of your ideas on Twitter and both of these were recent hits. Did you know Ms. Callahan has students do a creative math thinking exercise each morning? You may have seen Ms. Joseph's clas marching out to fire drill with the bleu, blac, rouge, but did you know Ms. Joseph's creative fire drill idea got retweeted to 17,500 followers by the author of Teach Like a Pirate, he was so impressed.

Here is Ms. Joseph making good use of fire drill transition time:

...and here is Ms. Callahan's clever Math Questions of the Day and Angry Birds projects.

Piedmont is proud to have 3 alumni play in this year's NCAA tournament. We'll be watching tonight- Go UVa and Akil Mitchell Sweet 16! We hope you enjoy watching the video we made for our former Pirates Jeremy, Aerris and Akil! Great job to all 3 for achieving a college dream! features Piedmont employee (and Jeremy's mom) Tammy Caldwell ( some of her culinary artistry here) as well as former teachers and current students. Watch to find out a fun fact about Akil when he was in middle school that may motivate middle schoolers to work through setbacks. Also note that Akil is often praised in the media for his strong acadmics that led him to UVa and that their former teachers remember all 3 young men as committed scholars as well as athletes.

Will it Break?

On a gorgeous sunny day, amidst the beautiful Charlotte Center City skyline, sixth graders got a chance to be outside proving their STEM engineering, STEAM and maker skills with the annual Egg Drop. Mr. Clark was on the rooftop and Ms. Burick was manning the megaphone down below as Mr. Miller organized the crowd gathered to watch their classmates inventions. Extra credit was offered if an egg drop contraption could land and then keep moving uphill Mars-Rover style. Students got a chance to realize how hard it really is to be a NASA engineer. This is 6th grade rocket science, people! Here are a few photos starring:Mr. MillerMr. ClarkMs. Burick and the entire team of Piedmont 6th grader scientists!

The crowd anxiously awaits Care Bear's return to Earth.

And he makes it safely down, with his egg securely cushioned!

Checking out Mr. Carebear after he survived his drop successfully!

Recycling the eggs that survived the drop!

Mr. Clark's launch helpers enjoy the panoramic views!

Extra credit if the eggdrop can go "Mars Rover" and move after landing!

Ms.Lyttle and Mr. Miller keep the ground crew under control with Ms. Howard as they await news of one egg's fate from Ms. Burick's egg check station.

You can never have too much tape when you are dropping something off a tall building!

The thrill of victory!

This group's egg drop container was a crowd favorite!

A sampling of all the great designs!

Ms Gurthie's Soapbox commentary:Being at Piedmont makes me feel so sorry for all those kids who are cooped up inside bored to tears in pencil pushing worksheet driven classes for the sake of some teacher or bureaucrat's misguided idea of what "rigor" looks like. Thank you, 6th grade Science teachers! I am so glad that "rigorous educational challenge" to you means real-world exciting challenge not dull eyed quiet mindless compliance!

In the spirit of Mr. Milligan's now-famous Pigman Mock Trial, Piedmont has another 7th grade active learning language arts project. This year, Ms. Alexander-Brown's classes read Whirligig by Paul Fleischman. Students then participated in writing and Socratic seminar discussions around the novel. For a culminating project students chose to either create a book trailer , build an actual 3D whirligig themselves (in the real world or in Minecraft), draw from the book and then write up its meaning and analyze its symbolism.This project allowed students to use their personal strengths and interests in tech, art, engineering, or the maker movement to grow in their English Language Arts skill. Some even grew in their tech, art and engineering skills. Thanks to Ms. Brown, we may have to add some more letters to the latest education acronym. First it was STEM, then it was STEAM, now it may have to become STE-ELA-M! ELA makerspace here we come!

Along the small happinesses lines, can we talk lunch?I know it's cafeteria food and some people like to make fun of that but if you eat Chicken BBQ (and if you don't, can I remind you that you are in North Carolina) and fries, the stuff in our cafeteria can't be beat! Not only is Piedmont's cafeteria the best school cafeteria I've ever eaten in, but I've had BBQ sandwiches at restaurants that can't hold a candle to these!When you're hungry, its nice to be able to just run downstairs and get a fresh hot meal handed to you. And the ladies will always have a smile for you. And don't even get me started on the homemade rolls!

Author

"Celebrating Piedmont" logs only a small fraction of the learning magic the teachers of CMS' Piedmont Middle School, an IB World School. create daily. In that sense, it is authored by all the staff and students of Piedmont. It is curated by Ms. Gurthie who can be reached at the icons above. She'll be happy to brag about Piedmont's teachers and students any chance she gets! Please note this blog has only just begun and we have so much to show off! Come back again soon!